BBC gears up for review of £20m media business

The BBC is to review its media planning and buying account, worth £20m.

The statutory review, which takes place every five years, covers all
public-service elements of the Corporation, including TV, radio, online,
sports, factual and learning, and children.

Media agencies including incumbent PHD will be invited to submit a

tender via an ad in the Official Journal of the European Communities

(OJEC) later this summer. The AAR was involved in managing the last
review process.

The news follows the BBC's announcement last month that it is reviewing
its advertising roster, which includes Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, DFGW
and Fallon, and issued a tender document. The process will cover its TV,
radio and online activities.

Agencies will be responsible for campaign delivery, but TV and radio
executions will be produced by the BBC's preferred supplier Red Bee
Media, which was formerly known as BBC Broadcast and was its in-house
production department until it sold it last year.

The advertising review is being joint-managed by the BBC's head of
marketing and planning, Eliza Burrows, and its procurement department.